


Gladio et Hastam: When the Huntress met the Knight.

by IvvyQueen



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game), The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe, Angst, Bittersweet Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Erend Has Two Appearances, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Happy Ending, Language Barrier, Language Barriers Shenanigans, Multi, Multiple NPCs - Freeform, No Romance, Post-Canon, Swearing, Zelda Has One Appearance, at least not between Aloy and Link, for HZD at least
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:22:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25459267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IvvyQueen/pseuds/IvvyQueen
Summary: Link gets pulled into the Earth of 3040 A.C., with no idea of where he is, or how to get back to Hyrule. In his path, he'll meet the Nora that rides machine, has a fancy spear and very delightful freckles. And, maybe, she'll be his best ally in this new adventure.
Relationships: Aloy & Link, Aloy/Erend (Horizon: Zero Dawn), Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	1. Far from all I know

The surrounding trees lent him shelter from the wintry sun. His hylian hood concealed his face from sight, eyes locked on the ground where he sat as his teeth tore into the tender, glazed meat on a wooden skewer.

The soil underneath his boots was fertile, a dark garden with a precious, almost untouched veil of snow on top of it, as it did on the mountain range that decorated the skyline. The sunset gave it all a rose hue, on the small, wooden bridges and the lake that he could paraglide to, if he so wanted.

But Link felt his spirit low; the land was not familiar, not in the slightest. Not even as he walked for miles and miles with no seeming end. The grass, the fishes, the boars, the birds; it was all vastly different from what he knew, but more so, a different kind of beast roamed around in this unknown.

His ears twitched at the sound of a low, guttural roar. The veins of his throat tensed as he rushed up a tree, holding onto it for dear life.

He was no stranger to ancient machinery, the most dangerous kind. Guardians had left his body scarred as well as his death they once caused, but whatever prowled below him was unlike anything and everything he’d ever seen. 

By no means it was sheikah, he doubted it was given life by the hand of men. Armored and armed to the teeth, its entire body was made of a white metal, with teeth and claws big enough to crush his skull and turn him into nothing but a red pulp of hylian blood. It moved like an animal and its eyes glowed yellow, like a Lynel in the night, almost as big as one as well, though it’d be bigger if it dared to stand on its hind legs.

_Not the worst I’ve seen, but I’m not about to risk it all either,_ he thought to himself, letting go with one hand as, slowly, he reached back for his bow.

It was a leap of faith, jumping down from the tree and onto the ground. Time slowed down in front of his very eyes, firing three shock arrows into its body, hoping that it’d fry its core until it was nothing but a pile of burned iron and circuits.

Link rolled away and put his bow back, quick to draw his sword and his shield. Cerulean eyes met with the metal beast’s crimson. Still alive, angrier than when it began to chase him a few miles back, and the moment all that electricity wore off, there was no doubt on whether it’d attack.

The master sword lit up with a heavenly blue, ethereal and calling for him to vanquish it once and for all. The tip reached for the sky and he drove the blade through its head, no red blood spewed, not like that’d have been comforting, but crackling was heard from inside as it fell on its belly.

_Finally-_

‘‘What- Who are you?’’

Link snapped up at a voice right besides him, jumping back and drawing his sword. He didn’t notice how someone had approached; a young woman, with hair like fire and curious clothes; her weapon- a spear of metal nearly her size -buried deep into the metal beast’s side.

‘‘ _You’re not going to attack me as well, right? I don’t know where I am, can you help me out?_ ’’ Link asked, lowering his sword. 

She raised an eyebrow and slowly pulled her spear back, glancing all around before eyeing him up and down. ‘‘I, uh, I’m sorry but what was that?’’

‘‘ _Wait, what did you just say I couldn’t- Oh._ ’’ It soon became obvious she wasn’t understanding a word he spoke, much like he couldn’t understand even a lick of what she was saying. Not in the slightest.

He pointed at his sword and aimed it low, tracing with his finger towards the sheath on his back. She seemed to understand him there, her mouth curving into an ‘o’ as she moved her weapon away at his same pace.

‘‘You don’t really understand me, do you?’’ she asked, crossing her arms. His reply came in the form of silence and a tilted head. ‘‘Great, just great,’’ by her rising tone and flail of her arms, Link was able to discern her frustration.

She studied him closer, not a symbol in sight that could point to his tribe. No carja silk, no oseram armory, no nora fur; not like he could even be one with such a baby face and small frame either, let alone a Banuk that may have strayed from his nomad group even if he was cladded in blue and black, but every option had to be checked. 

‘‘Are you an outca- hey!’’ she jumped when his hands cupped her face, seizing her ears and tilting his head before she pushed him off and threatened to bury her fist into his face. ‘‘What gives?!’’

‘‘ _Your ears, they’re not…_ ’’ Link turned quiet and reached back, pulling down his hood and pointing at his own. ‘‘ _See? They’re different! I’m not like you at all._ ’’ he exclaimed; even if she couldn’t understand hylian, flicking his ears was enough to turn her stare from furious to bewildered.

‘‘Okay, yeah that isn’t… weird at all,’’ she looked around, running her fingers through her loose auburn locks, ‘‘of course I have to socialize with the one person that can’t even understand me, just another day in the life of Aloy.’’

The groan after her words and the roll of her intense green eyes were a dead giveaway that she wasn’t happy at all. Every part of her spoke of intensity, tense as she mulled over him. 

Link reached over, patting her shoulder. ‘‘ _You may not understand me, but I’m sure names are of everywhere,_ ’’ he began and pointed to himself, ‘‘ _I'm Link, and you are?_ ’’ he then asked, pointing now at her.

‘‘Oh, I can understand those,’’ she turned to him, frown easing away, ‘‘name’s Aloy.’’

‘‘ _Aloy_ _!_ ’’ His face lit up like the sun, a beaming smile and a nod towards her, relishing in the small victory. ‘‘ _This place, where?_ ’’ He pointed to the ground and all around them. ‘‘ _Where is here?_ ’’

‘‘Uhhh, this…’’ she looked at their surroundings, snapping her fingers when she caught on. ‘‘Oh! Oh I get you. This is The Embrace.’’ Aloy was quick to explain, pointing him towards the settlements.

‘‘The Embrace… _I see, I think it’s safe to say I am very, very far from Hyrule._ ’’ 

Aloy watched his dignified ears lower and twitch, looking over from the settlements to the metal devil that rose and remained near the mountain range. 

‘‘Okay, time for me to make the questions.’’ Aloy motioned at him then all around, shrugging to point to a question. ‘‘You, here, how?’’ 

From his waist, he took the sheikah slate and scrolled through, lifting the screen for her to see. A picture in perfect detail. Aloy’s mouth fell agape at the new tech in front of her, her grip firm as she looked it over, detailing a clear image of a circular gate, different from the cauldrons and Old World’s caves she’d visited previously.

‘‘ _All I know is one moment I was exploring the depths of Hyrule and the next, I was sucked into_ The Embrace _._ ’’ Link put the slate back on his hip, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

‘‘Maybe-’’ she let go of the sheikah slate, pointing at herself, ‘‘-if you take me here,’’ she paused and pointed at the picture of the portal, ‘‘I could help ya out.’’

_She wants to come? She seems honest enough, knows her way around and, if she were a yiga, by now I’d be striking back…_

He glanced back, the trail he’d travelled for almost three days clear in his head. 

_Too much at stake to not give her a shot._

‘‘ _Ok, you can come with me._ ’’ 

Link jerked his head south of his position, the slate back on his hip, and his grasp on the Master Sword firm.

_Let’s hope I don’t regret this._

~~~

On her teeth, she could practically savor the metal and dirt. 

Having gone down a rabbit hole, only to fall in a pool of water deep enough to hoard ruins of the Metal World, and eventually crawl their way through a narrow, rocky passage, Aloy felt a twinge of regret in having followed the young blond so far.

‘‘This feels a little elaborate for an ambush, but I’ve seen worse…’’ she pushed past him, turning the corner and sliding past a wall of stalactites and stalagmites.

‘‘ _A little further and we should be there_.’’ 

There was nothing but the sounds of their footsteps, delving deeper until the shadow of objects and minds long gone loomed over them.

The picture he’d shown her paled. It was bigger than she imagined, sturdy like the mountains that withstood the pass of time. A set of stairs led directly to the portal, with its square shape ending in a pedestal that- too high up to stand in -Aloy assumed one sat on. 

Along the portal’s rims, a series of glyphs that repeated over and over, words she couldn’t read. If there were cables powering up such giant device, at best they’d be underground and intact. Its build however, was not metal, so her Focus told.

‘‘What is this place? I’ve never- this kind of technology is unlike anything I’ve ever seen!’’ Aloy rushed forward, touching around, examining closer as her fingers ran over the inscriptions.

‘‘ _I tried activating it with the slate-_ ’’ he took it off his hip and placed it on the pedestal to his left, sighing as it lit up with a bright, neon blue before shutting down again. ‘‘ _-but it doesn’t even open long enough for it to, well, work._ ’’

‘‘Wait, do that again.’’ She signalled and rushed back, lifting her right hand. As the portal shone its light on them again, the same failure happened, but the few seconds allowed for a better scan. 

Four sources scattered across the area, with only three possessing energy.

‘‘ _Your eyes have that gleam again. What is it? What did you find, Aloy?_ ’’

Her mouth opened. then closed right away. Aloy glanced around and pulled him towards one of the panels. Upon opening it, a circular battery blinded them for a few seconds. Just as bright as the portal but orange, held tight in place by a failsafe mechanism.

A giant ancient core.

She held her hand up, lifting four of her fingers.

‘‘ _So there are four of these-_ ’’ Link watched her take the last finger and shake her head, ‘‘ _-yet the last one is missing._ ’’ His tone fell flat, followed by a sigh. She reached over and patted his shoulder.

‘‘Maybe it’s around here somewhere, or uh…’’ though she tried to cheer him up, that was far from her forte, and the focus proved to not be as useful as other times, no tracks or leads for the last battery.

‘‘ _Don’t stress about it,_ ’’ Link waved off and reached for the slate, lifting it enough to snap a picture of the battery, ‘‘ _the compendium should help out but, it’s clear it’s not here. I don’t know where it might be, where can I even find another one? What if- You._ ’’

‘‘Why are you pointing at me?’’ she drawled her question and stepped away. Her fingers itched against the metal of her spear as he approached.

‘‘ _Listen, I know you have no reason to trust me. I’m… a stranger, but you know these lands, and by the looks of you, better than anyone else. Please, could you help me get back?_ ’’

She lost track of his hands, and looked back into his eyes. A request with a depth she’d heard over and over, when she was asked to save a father, a tribe, then the world.

‘‘You really want to go back, don’t you?’’ Her question came without a need to answer with his hands or mouth. His importune stare sufficed. ‘‘Fine, I feel like I’m going to regret this, but I’ll help you.’’ She sighed after a moment.

‘‘ _You will? You really will?!_ ’’ he inched even closer, a smile from ear to ear. ‘‘ _Oh thank you Aloy! I’ll be so in debt with you after this!_ ’’ he beamed and shook her hand, multiple times.

‘‘Alright alright!’’ She took her hand back and pushed him away a couple of steps, shaking her head. ‘‘Don’t get all attached to me now. This is just temporary.’’

‘‘ _I know, but I still gotta celebrate. Either way, we’ve been down here long enough, want to head out?_ ’’ He pointed with his thumb to astray sunlight, an exit to the open world.

‘‘Hm? Ah, yeah, let’s get out of here. Got a feeling it’ll be a long journey from now on.’’


	2. Unwelcomed, yet familiar

Summer wind blew his hair back. His gaze mesmerized by the people, hundreds of them gathered; selling, buying, entertained, praying. The Sundom welcomed him with warmth and grace, richness; and Meridian, a city rebuilt from ashes, with no trace of it in its stones or paths.

‘‘Yeah, I stared an awful lot when I first came here, too.’’ She teased and nudged his side. ‘‘Don’t have cities like this in Hyrule?’’ she asked and signed while they made their way through the midday crowd.

‘‘ _We did, I believe._ ’’

‘‘You believe?’’

‘‘ _It’s… complicated._ ’’ He averted his gaze from Aloy’s, for an instant. ‘ _I’ll explain it to you some other time, when we’re not in public,_ ’’ he gestured all around them, and chuckled, ‘‘ _either way, you said we’re meeting a friend of yours, what for?_ ’’

‘‘Well if you want to find out about weird places in deep caverns or buried underground, there’s no kind of person like an oseram. Thankfully, I got one in high places.’’

She looked happy for a brief second, speaking about her friend- whoever they were -and always keeping a slight smirk. He opened his mouth to speak but Aloy paused in her tracks, scooting over to a side.

‘‘He should be- Oh, there he is.’’

Link turned his sight the same direction, and spotted a man. In his own right, he looked exactly like the type of person Aloy would know. Burly, to say the least; perfectly capable to take on a moblin with nothing but his bare hands and yet, he read geniality in the man’s icy eyes, more so upon spotting Aloy back.

‘‘C’mon, Link.’’ She let go of the pole and pulled him down along, snapping him back to Earth. 

He stumbled down and trailed behind. Counting the seconds until the man noticed his presence came with hers, and he wasn’t just another visitor in the city.

‘‘Aloy! By spit and fire, it’s really you,’’ he even exhaled her name, though in a note that exhibited a certain fondness, ‘‘it’s great to see you again- I mean, it’s been a couple of months after all.’’

‘‘Yeah, it really has,’’ the knot in her chest came undone as she spoke, with no idea it was there before, ‘‘it’s good to see you too. How has everything ‘round here been?’’

‘‘Peaceful, like nothing ever happened, don’t know where you went but I can tell you’ve been busy. Who’s the guy?’’

‘‘Temporarily, he’s my companion,’’ Aloy was quick to dismiss, and bring Link closer with a pat on his shoulder, ‘‘Erend, this is Link. He comes from very, very far away. Link,’’

she turned towards him and signed, ‘‘this is _Erend_.’’

She drawled his name, and he reached forward to shake Link’s hand, an eyebrow mildly quirked.

‘‘ _It’s a pleasure to meet you, Erend, even though you can’t really understand me._ ’’ Link shook Erend’s hand, without a smile but rather, a firm nod of his head.

‘‘Wow, you weren’t kidding with the very-far thing. And I thought his clothes were odd.’’ 

‘‘Yeah, so did I. Listen, I’m trying to help him get back to where he comes from. I tracked you down hoping you’d have any sort of intel, has there been any weird dig-ups lately? Or new things- like a battery -being sold no one’s seen before, something other-wordly?’’

‘‘I… think I know something, but it’s better if you come see them. Follow me.’’ His tone lowered into somberness, and he led both nora and hylian out of the crowd.

A couple of turns, and few steps inside a building, Link found himself amidst a crowd of soldiers. Faceless guards with tired eyes, carrying the weight of their armor and duty on their shoulders as they readied to head out- some, not all. Others laid in their beds, but no by their will.

The air reeked of copper, an acidic scent from sweat and burnt skin, nurses rushing to aid and tend to the wounded. It hit Link stomach-first, Aloy rushed to cover her mouth and nose instead, while Link struggled to not gag and puke all over the stone floor.

‘‘ _For crying out loud, what is this smell?!_ ’’

‘‘I’m with Link’s sentiment here. Erend, what are we doing at the infirmary?’’

‘‘Recently there’s been a myriad of attacks from one particular kind of machine that no one has seen before. And by the reports, it doesn’t even look like it’s made out of any kind of metal we use, or look like any of the machines we know exist. Not even the ones we faced at the Spire.’’

‘‘But that’s impossible. We got rid of Hades, there shouldn’t be any machines like that active.’’

‘‘ _What? Oi, Aloy, a little explanation?_ ’’

‘‘Sorry, I almost forgot but, he says there’s some kind of machine lurking, nothing we’ve ever seen and no one has been able to kill it?’’ She asked and signed, looking over at Erend.

‘‘Not even a scratch.’’ He rummaged through one of the wounded soldier’s belongings, a young man sedated, so to speak, with heavy burn marks across his side, and what was left of his arm. ‘‘Here, he managed to draw that… thing.’’

Erend handed Aloy a crumpled piece of paper. She found no need to study it, or no chance to, as Link was even quicker to take it from her hands.

His grip on the paper tightened in his trembling hold. As soon as he set eyes on the brusque drawing, Link moved past her and towards the Vanguard’s captain. ‘‘ _Where was this seen? I know what this is and I know how to kill it, now tell me-_ ’’

‘‘Hey take it easy! I can’t understand a word you’re saying!’’

‘‘Link, he’s right, let go of him.’’ Aloy scurried in the middle of both, one hand on Erend’s chest and the other on Link’s. ‘‘That tension in you is not for nothing, you want to go seek it.’’ Though she signed as a question, her tone was more of a statement.

‘‘ _Yes, at once if possible._ ’’

‘‘Fine… Erend?’’

‘‘I-I mean, I was readying to go there when you found me, so it’s fine by me.’’

She straightened her posture and ran a hand through her hair, parting from between them. ‘‘That settles it, then. We’re hunting today.’’

~~~~

A violet stroke over the sky, midday turned into dusk, with sunlight almost gone and the only sound that of their footsteps on the red soil, past Cut-Cliffs and deep into the canyon.

‘‘So what’s the deal with him? It’s odd that you take up a mission and let them come with you, let alone if they obviously can do it themselves. What’s so special about him? And how do you even communicate?’’

She looked over to Link, eyeing his back; well within earshot, however, several feet away from them, leading the hunt.

‘‘Apart from everything physical and that he doesn’t speak our language?’’ Aloy slowed down on her steps. ‘‘I don’t know, to be honest. He’s only told me so much but, hardly anything is a coincidence with me. We make up the signs as we go.’’

‘‘ _Shit- get down!_ ’’ Link tackled them behind a rock large enough to hide the three. 

He heard the eight-legged prowling of its tracks, scanning around but not through their barrier. Its claw-like appendages scratched the soil; all over its pyramidal body, multiple scratches accentuated by its eerie bright, burgundy glow. Save, of course, its single ‘eye’.

‘‘What kind of machine is that?!’’ Aloy whisper-shouted, reaching back for her spear.

‘‘ _That’s called a Guardian and trust me, we have to kill it fast before it kills us._ ’’ Link signed and peered over his shoulder. ‘‘ _There’s only two weak spots on that thing, but if you guys help me take its legs out, I can take it down._ ’’

‘‘Does that mean you got a plan?’’ Erend asked and Link nodded, inching closer to explain.

The guardian, none the wiser until a rock hit the back of its head. It twisted and aimed right down, a straight line aimed right at Link’s chest. With its attention on his head, he sprinted past it.

He slashed off three of its legs, a million pieces slashed into thin air, except for a few gears saved. It stumbled back from the blunt force and Link slid into a halt.

‘‘ _Erend!_ ’’

‘‘On it!’’ 

His staff fell with a thunderous strike, breaking off two more with the hammerhead. Sparks flew, azure and not orange, opposite to what he’d expected. Blown back by Erend’s hit, it fell further down into the valley. With the remnant three legs, the guardian fought to get back on its feet and begin the chase.

‘‘ _Aloy!_ ’’

From a higher point, her bombs flew down. Six at the very least, latched onto it and with their blinding blast, and the guardian missed by a scratch to not be blown to pieces with it. Dark smoke tenderly blown off by the night wind, and with its last efforts, glaring down with the spirit of a beast, it took aim once more.

Link spread his stance, and brought his shield out. Eyes forward, unblinking.

The ringing sped up with the seconds. A flash, a single shot that came and bounced right back, pushed off in one swift move. 

The implosion’s wave blew off dust and rocks, a mechanical cry escaping from within on its death.

Link let his breath settle in, shuffling back towards Aloy, who’d ran downhill to meet with the pair.

‘‘Are you two okay?’’

‘‘C’mon, we’re all pretty tough. Right, Link?’’ Erend nudged Link on the side.

‘‘ _We’re both okay._ ’’ Link signed and patted her shoulder, sheathing his sword. ‘‘ _Erend’s got an arm as good as I thought he would, eh?_ ’’ He asked and turned to the oseram, wearing a sapped smirk.

‘‘He’s calling you strong, but it’s not like you need more of an ego boost,’’ Aloy jested, ‘‘we should rest down.’’

‘‘There’s a campfire nearby, I’m sure we could-’’

‘‘ _You two go and head over there, I-_ ’’ he took a quick glance at the guardian’s remains, then back at them, ‘‘ _-got some things to check first. I’ll catch up._ ’’

Though her brow knitted close, she signed her ok and walked away with Erend by her side. Once she was out of sight, Link approached where all the remains were, storing what little there was inside his pouch.

_Not a single monster but we face a Guardian? There’s no way there aren’t others…_ he examined one of the gears up close, scrolling through the gallery of his compendium. _It’s best I set it to sense them, just to be safe._

On the other side, a little farther up then a slide down, Aloy glanced over her shoulder a couple of times, lighting up the firewood. Erend sat to her right, his eyes fixed on her; the fire locks that cascaded from her head, with not a sound but that of the crackling logs.

‘‘So… what do you think he’s doing?’’

‘‘H-Huh?’’ Caught mid-train of thought, Aloy took another peek behind her shoulder then at Erend. ‘‘If I had to guess, probably… scavenging? It’s not like there’s much left though.’’

‘‘Hah, yeah. Never seen a machine explode like that, and you?’’

‘‘Explode yeah, but like **that?** ’’ She shook her head and scoffed for a reply. ‘‘He can take his time though, known company is… always a little better.’’

The blood that rushed across his cheeks became too noticeable to hide in time. The echo of her laughter only colored them brighter, but if he could hear her laugh like that, to watch her freckles fold on her face. It’d be easier to ask what he wouldn’t do.

A twinkle in her eyes, minute smiles and locked stares cut short by approaching footsteps. 

‘‘ _Well I hope you guys are hungry, ‘cause Hylia knows I am- hm?_ ’’ Link eyed them up and down, carying a metal stock pot in his arms. ‘‘ _Ohh, I see. No need to be so shy-_ ’’

‘‘Don’t you dare finish that sentence, and that includes talking.’’ Aloy threatened and shifted away from Erend, her cheeks burning like the fire that warmed their night. 

‘‘ _As you say._ ’’ He shrugged and poured clean water so it could boil, concealing his smirk. ‘‘ _Eetto, Aloy? I think it’s safe to say we’ll have to hunt down all the guardians._ ’’

The calmness of her brow faded, replaced by a deep frown and a crossing of arms. ‘‘Wait, what do you mean by ‘all’? There’s more of those things?! You’ve got to be joking.’’

‘‘ _Be real, d_ _o you really think there’s only one?_ ’’ he asked and brought forth a small dagger, chopping mushrooms as he spoke. ‘‘ _I’ll be frank, at best we’d find a dozen if not more. And it’s not just that, the Guardians have the core I’m looking for._ ’’

Her head fell into her palms, a groan settling into her throat. ‘‘Of course… well, what’s your plan? We need to find how many there are, first.’’

‘‘ _Um, I uh..._ ’’

‘‘I got an idea,’’ Erend cut in, leaning closer, ‘‘those things weren’t active before, maybe the tallnecks have them under their radar now; seeing as how you can control machines.’’

‘‘Hey, that’s actually a great idea!’’ Aloy seized his face between her hands, only to find Link’s wide, shit-eating grin. She let go of Erend’s face just as quick. ‘‘He um, he said that if we go and find the Tallnecks, we can find out how many Guardians there are.’’

‘‘ _Sounds like a solid plan to me. Now, let’s have dinner, shall we?_ ’’ He brought the scent of his cream of mushroom soup up, relishing in its scrumptious mix of milky sweetness and tanginess of the wild hylian herbs and mushrooms.

He brought forth three wooden bowls, and poured one for each, just enough for that night. He moved away from the cooling stock pot, and sat back with his bowl, taking pleasure not just in his meal, but in Aloy and Erend’s fitful encounter of stares.


	3. Scraps of our journey

‘‘ _ I got to admit, t-this- whew! _ ’’ he shook off the breath caught on his throat, careful as he moved to his feet. ‘‘ _ This is one of the coolest things I’ve climbed. _ ’’

Aloy held onto her spear, locking it in place over the Tallneck’s connection port. A smirk drew on her face, watching Link stumble towards her. ‘‘What, can’t get up?’’ she teased, tapping her focus to reveal the locked data. 

‘‘ _ In my defense, all living things I climb on try to kill me. _ ’’ He scooted closer, watching the shifting of her hands in the empty air. His eyebrow quirked.

‘‘I imagine it looks pretty weird for you,’’ she stopped to sign, sparing him a glance, ‘‘Don’t worry, I’m almost done… and, there!’’ 

She got up and took back her spear. Though invisible to his eyes, Aloy scrolled the map over to two bright, magenta spots. Unknown, new, symbols. ‘‘It worked! First one is pretty close, Valley of Omens.’’ She pointed northwest of them with her index.

‘‘ _ Redheads first. _ ’’ He bowed and stepped aside.

He expected her to slide down onto one of the ledges, and climb her way down. He’d barely processed her sprinting past him, when he turned around to find her free falling, only to turn around and attach her rappel onto the ledge. A shockwave fired up after her, jolting every inch of the ground right before she landed.

‘‘What are you waiting for?’’ She jogged to keep up with the Tallneck, motioning for him to do the same.

‘‘ _ Oh boy, she’s gonna hit me for this. _ ’’ He muttered to himself, and took a couple of steps back. A head start, enough for a long jump. 

There was nothing, against him, only the push of the wind. A fleeting second of uncertainty.

A quick reach-and-pull, the wind spread open his paraglider, allowing him to float his way down; underneath him, chasing his shadow, Aloy. He rolled over and onto his feet, quick to shake the red soil off himself and look at her. 

Her eyebrows arched high and her jaw hit the ground.

‘‘So were you ever planning to tell me you could fly?’’ She lifted her hands and shaped them like a flying bird. Link couldn’t help but burst into a laughing fit when he caught on.

‘‘ _ I’d say I’d let you use it, but it’s the only one I got. _ ’’

‘‘Then I’ll take a look at it and make my own.’’

‘‘ _ Fine by me, but don’t test it by jumping off a  _ Tallneck _. _ ’’ He signed and tightened the straps of his arm pad.

The sandstorm scourged them like whips, itching on their skin as they made their way out of the lands ravaged by the desert, and into the redder, rockier canyons that bordered with Sunfall. Tall hoodoos gave shape to the valley, an arid soil with little flora to make up for it; only those with the toughest roots and sturdiest leaves, dried green.

She glanced at their feet, catching sight of four-point star shaped tracks.

His pointed ears flicked at a ring; it came from his slate.

‘‘ _ Oi, Aloy. _ ’’

‘‘Yeah, I noticed it.’’ 

She looked around, nudging towards a large ledge.

Link glanced around then sped uphill, as fast as he could to hold onto the rim. He shifted back and reached down, grabbing Aloy’s to pull her up before she could slide back down to lower ground.

Little did they expect to find, just behind a wall of rocks, two other pairs of eyes staring right at them, wide and glassy with tears. Two kids, younger than her and him, with carja silks that some other day would’ve been the envy of their peers, but now with claw marks torn into their sleeves of one, and the sides of the other, they barely passed by rags.

‘‘Are you two alright? What are you doing here?’’ Aloy asked, rushing to their side, and so did Link, though he kept quiet. 

‘‘We just wanted to hunt a machine, something, w-we swear. And yes we’re alright.’’

‘‘Barely. They broke our weapons in half and nearly tore us to sh-sh-shreds.’’ With trembling lips, the girl of the two strangers spoke.

‘‘They? But, this is Thunderjaw territory.’’

‘‘ _ Aloy, look. _ ’’ Link tugged her sleeve, pointing for her to glance below them.

Metal jaws grinded down on what was once a Thunderjaw, indeed; now a huge pile of scraps and refined iron. Its body broken in sections for the whole pack. Scrappers, carrying on their backs and rears the remains of their giant kin. Far from alone, the Guardian they were after patrolled with them.

‘‘They must’ve been sent here to retrieve the pieces from when I killed it, there’s almost nothing left of it.’’ Aloy looked over at the kids, flashing them a little smile. ‘‘Don’t worry, we’ll get you out of here.’’

‘‘ _ Uh, how? _ ’’

Aloy reached into her pockets; in her hands, three detonating blast traps to be assembled.

One corner of her lips rose, she grinned, and turned towards Link. ‘‘You want to know a good thing about scrappers?’’ she asked, as she tightened the blaze traps. ‘‘They’re so light, a simple trap like this and boom! They go flying in all directions.’’

‘‘ _ Oh, I like the sound of that. _ ’’ He cracked his knuckles and unsheathed his sword. ‘‘ _ So, how are we doing this? _ ’’

‘‘I’m gonna create an opening in the pack. When they come through here, we’re gonna call them and when you see that opening-’’ 

‘‘ _ I make my run for it. _ ’’ He stated. 

She slid down first, waiting to see if the stones rolling down alerted the scrappers. Blue light still. She gestured towards herself, and Link glided down to make as little noise as possible. Once by her side, she planted the three bombs on a horizontal line, in front of them, and carefully they took five steps back.

‘‘ _ So, what now? _ ’’

‘‘We wait.’’

~~~~

When the pack of six moved, through the only way in- and out - of the valley, their lights flickered yellow.

Aloy waved her spear in slow circles, to draw their attention. They lifted their heads, some tilting it right, the others left, then to the other side. Her index and thumb placed on the corner of her lips, Aloy took a deep breath through her nose and blew the same air into a whistle.

Their lights flashed red, and thus they sprinted forward.

Link’s heartbeat matched their running speed, flexing his grip on the handle as they neared.

Their maws grinded and guttural growls became snarls. Upon touching the first bomb, the rest detonated by the flammable contact, breaking the pack in half, and killing off two of the scrappers, their pieces blown across the u-shaped passage and the rest of them stumbling to ring Aloy.

Link slipped past and ran into the depths of the valley, disappearing in two blinks of her eyes. 

Her attention soon danced back to the four scrappers who snarled and dripped dark blood and sparks all over the red soil.

The sharp end of her spear kept them at bay, as they growled. 

She moved slow, in a closed circle.

The first one leaped and she jumped away, its claws almost grazed her flesh. The white spark of the clash between her spear and its maw bounced off the scrapper’s eyes, before its metal flesh was torn in half, protuberant jaws broken by her edge.

Half a breath, she drove her spear into its stomach and just as fast she drove it out, leaping away as the other three sprinted to bite her legs.

‘‘C’mon, you hungry bastards!’’ Aloy shouted, tearing off the armors with a quick succession of attacks, drawing their shrill screams from their metallic core.  _ Too quick, they’re too quick, I can’t draw my bow like this,  _ she thought, sweat beading down her neck as yet another claw neared too close to her veins,  _ shit!  _

And deep into the valley, Link hid behind a wall of rocks, arrow resting between his itching fingers.

Cornered, the Guardian proved once again its mechanical wit to him. There wasn’t much to run to, and the valley being too high to climb without getting caught by a blast left only so much space to be in, even less, to hide. He’d reached high between two rock pillars, resting against one.

He made out Aloy’s vex shouts, a ball of saliva and worry forming on his throat. He tried to peek around the corner; a blue flash flew right by his cheek, almost tearing off his ear in the process.

‘‘ _ C’mon, you one-eyed demon… _ ’’ He mouthed and moved his hand out then back in; the split second where after it shot its second beam, Link fired the arrow straight into the center of its eye. 

Avoiding the many claws that tried to seize him, his sword slashed clean two of its legs, their pieces vanishing except for small gears and twists, as it tumbled down the bottom of the valley.

‘‘ _ Yes!- Oh no. _ ’’

It took aim and fired right under Link’s feet. The explosion and fire blew him away, rocks blown to bits and turned to mere pebbles that fell with and on him.

His ears rang and he folded them back, tremulous arms lifting his body from the ground.

He spit the drops of blood that pooled on his lips, shaking himself to his feet. ‘‘ _ This would be so much easier if you just died… _ ’’

It aimed right at his center, charging. His arrows, however, took less to charge and quicker to fire, one after another until they broke into his eye. His run for it, Link slid underneath. A glowing cerulean circle; the Guardian couldn’t get a hold of his position.

His sword broke through the glass, and he pushed deeper until the blade was gone from his sight. Light shone and he brought his shield forth, curling into a ball under it. 

The blast never hurt, but the pieces left behind sure would if they fell on his head.

Granted, they avoided him this time.

‘‘ _ Ahh, glad that’s over… _ ’’ he murmured, letting his arm fall to his side. 

He scrambled for the pieces, but alas, not a single one was what he needed. A sigh escaped from his lips, staring at the sky in the silence.

Hollow, like the valley breathed back at him; he could hear his heartbeat, and nothing more.

Absolutely nothing.

‘‘ _ Aloy- _ ’’ he turned on his heel and sprinted past the useless remains, the muscles and sinews of his legs in burning pain, _ ‘ _ ‘- _ Aloy! _ ’’

He heard no cries of pain, the crackles of the machines died down, but upon arriving, Aloy stood tall, her foot resting on the last of the scrappers, with not even a scratch on her arms or face, untwisting her spear out of the corpse of the last one.

‘‘ _ You’re alright, _ ’’ he breathed with relief, slowing down to a halt a feet away from her, ‘‘ _ the Guardian, it didn’t have a Giant core either… _ ’’

‘‘Oh, well don’t worry, we still got a lot of terrain to cover.’’ She flashed a half smile. ‘‘Hold on, hey kids! It’s safe now!’’ She waved her hand and watched them peek out, trembling but sliding their way down to them.

‘‘You two saved us...’’ they were quick to reach for Aloy’s, whose knee-jerk reaction was to step back, and they opted instead to hold Link’s. 

‘‘H-How can we thank you?’’

‘‘Well, let’s start with not going off on your own to hunt down machines,’’ Aloy was quick to take over, crossing her arms and looking down at them with a rather stern- though amused -look over her eyes, ‘‘a good hunter always knows what beasts are their limits.’’

They glanced at their broken bows. On fifth thought, there would have been no way they could’ve taken on a pack of Scrappers, let alone a Thunderjaw. Their cheeks colored darker shades as they avoided her stare.

‘‘ _ C’mon Aloy, cut them some slack. _ ’’ He nudged her side, crossing his arms.

Aloy found his bright eyes burning through to her heart. Reaching that part of her that softened for the pair of hunters-to-be, in whom she saw a past her reflected. A chuckle escaped her lips.

‘‘Okay, stop looking at me like that, you look like a stray puppy.’’ She pushed his face away and turned to the kids. ‘‘Listen, being a hunter is tough; it takes years of training and a lot of sweat, blood and tears but it’s not impossible.’’ She paused, the words on her mouth like ghosts. ‘‘With your bravery, the path is halfway done.’’

Their faces lit up like the Sun above them. Aloy stepped back and nudged towards Sunfall, her smaller braids moving along. ‘‘Now go home and try not to get in trouble, alright?’’

‘‘We will!’’

‘‘T-Thanks again!’’ the young girl beamed, as they walked away. 

Link waited until they were far enough, reaching into his bag for an apple to eat. ‘‘ _ It sounded sweet, what you said to them. _ ’’

‘‘I guess you could say it was.’’

‘‘ _ Were you like that, at their age? _ ’’ he asked, halving the apple with his palms and giving her a piece.

The sweetness of its juices dripped from her lips, eyes locked on the ground as her head clouded with memories and her teeth sank in for a second, smaller bite. ‘‘No, I.. started much younger. I know how hard it can get, so a little motivation can really go a long way.’’

‘‘ _ Well, I think this is gonna stay with them for a while. _ ’’ 

She let the silence take over. Her eyes tracked for where the second Guardian awaited, past Blazon Arch, and traced there with the edge of her spear.

‘‘Yeah, I hope so.’’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **None of the characters here nor the franchises belong to me. This is a work of fiction purely for fun.**


	4. Show me a little magic

‘‘So, back in Hyrule, how many of these did you fight? Dozens? Hundreds?’’

‘‘ _ I think it’s near the hundreds, but there are many I don’t remember. I mostly fight monsters, um. _ ’’ Link placed his index fingers in place for longer ‘fangs’.

Aloy’s heartful chuckle echoed through the arid plains, nudging Link on his ribs. ‘‘You expect me to believe that? I can understand machines but, monsters?’’

‘‘ _ No, really! I fight them on a daily basis, of different kinds. Some are giants, others are fast like lightning. Others… Well, they’re demons brought to life. None are to be taken lightly unless you want to end up dead. Even a band of bokoblins can take down the best of warriors if they’re reckless. _ ’’

He placed his hand over where her elbow had been, tracing the scars hidden away from her sight.

Link ceased the rubbing, glancing at the device on his hip, the tracking’s beeps alerting them.

‘‘ _ But I uh, we don’t need to get into such sad details. _ ’’ Link chuckled, Sheikah Slate between his hands. ‘‘ _ The Guardian we’re looking for should be around here somewhere, don’t you think? I mean, it’s not hard to miss an eight-legged crawling beast. _ ’’

‘‘Maybe because… it’s not walking.’’

She grabbed his face between her index and her thumb, their pressure squishing his cheeks and forcing his eyes up.

A shadow cast at their feet by the machine high in the sky. A Guardian, indeed, but one like he’d find by the springs of the Goddess Hylia or lurking around Akkala Tower. From its single eye a red light shot down, scanning over for any life that posed a threat, to burn a hole through.

His life, to be specific.

‘‘ _ Here I was hoping there’d only be Stalkers, not a Skywatcher. _ ’’ He drawled out, lowering his tone out of instinct. 

‘‘Well, how do you defeat one of those?’’

Bow in hand, the tip of her arrow glistened, bathed by the sunlight. Aimed, dead-center, at one of the propellers.

‘‘ _ Hmm, you got the right idea. _ ’’

Lining up with her, Link caught on the right sparkle, aimed at the second propeller. 

Lips curving up, a smirk drew along, and his eye shut to squint.

A twitch in the bushes, and the dull of shuffled steps. His digits hovered the arrow steady, eyes darting to their left.

‘‘ _ Huh…? _ ’’

He caught a glimpse of refracted sunbeams bounce off, hidden in the tall grass.

‘‘ _ No!’’ _

One more breath, and her blood would’ve tainted the soil. One second of hesitation, and his head would be rolling off towards the cliff. Each step forward, with one hand on the blade and the other on the grip, he battled back the axe that swung down for them. 

Her arrow twirled to be clutched by her fist, sliding half a step and stabbing the attacker’s neck. He stumbled onto his knees, grasp on her hand as she took the arrow out, letting his blood be the one to spill the ground instead.

With one came five more. Killers, thieves as well, perhaps; their arrows, daggers and staves aimed at their throat.

‘‘ _ Any plan? _ ’’

Aloy’s back pressed against Link’s; her pulse tensed the veins of her throat, looking from bandit to bandit with an arrow eager to be fired from her bow. Sweat beaded on her jaw, both from the scorching sun and the blood that coursed through.

‘‘...Don’t get killed.’’ 

Her heel turned and she shifted to her knees, firing her arrow towards the sky. It flew past the bandits and above them, but it didn’t miss, they were never her target.

Though what it scratched was but the surface, the honed edge hit dead-center on the Guardian’s body. Swung back and forth from the hit, it stretched its neck and moved to aim at the group, unbothered to distinguish between ally or foe.

A deadly downpour of lasers rained over; the first blast breaking the circle in which Aloy and Link were cornered into.

‘‘Scatter! Hide!’’ cried one, turning on his steps to take cover behind a rock.

‘‘No you’re not!’’ 

Its aim latched onto Aloy, having thrown herself in the middle of the empty field. Red dust rose with her steps, arrows firing one after another towards the bandit she chased after. 

Raining down on him until one fell and pierced through his thigh. Crying out, his body fell forward and rolled to a halt.

With each second, the beeping turned louder. The heat between her shoulder blades grew, standing above the bandit and firing a second directly into his arm, causing him to yield from reaching for his weapon.

‘‘ _ Aloy, move out of there! _ ’’

‘‘Just one more second!’’

His sprint shook the ground beneath him, shield in arm. 

A blue spark crackled in the air.

His arm wrapped around her waist, his legs pressed against hers and forced her into a curl. Hidden behind his shield, the laser missed its mark by an eye of distance, and tore through the torso and side of the bandit. The blast and the explosion, however, tossed them back like dolls made of nothing but rags and fur; their bodies scratching up with every hit of the ground and the pebbles against their backs, their faces and arms.

In the middle of it, suddenly, there was nothing. No ground, no ledge, nothing underneath them but the emptiness of the abyss.

The bandits, hidden away from the skywatcher’s gaze, watched its aim turn into a bright red light, it hovered for a few moments, then flew back to its position, even further than that. They, who watched Aloy and Link fall and disappear, rushed to the edge, weapons ready to attack, cut off their fingers and make sure they were gone for good.

Instead, there was silence. The river flowing below, yet, no bodies floating along, or bleeding on the ground.

Not even a whisper.

~~~~

Her knuckles pressed against the floor, lifting the dirt and pebbles as she dragged her own body out of the water.

‘‘L-Link?’’ Aloy called, coughing up the water on her lungs. ‘‘Link…? Link! Where are you?’’

Her voice reverberated on the water, echoing faintly under the surface. Her heart shrunk tight in her center.

‘‘Link! Please, this is not funny!’’ Aloy gripped onto the pebbles, water and spit dripping down her chin. 

Her heart sunk lower and her stomach dropped, the quietness of the lake becoming louder. Too weak to swim back and search, her mind came to think of the worst.

Then nearby, the water tainted a very dark red, in quantities large enough to be discernible at such distance. 

Link’s head rose above the water, face stained with a snapmaw’s blood and oil that rose a few moments after him. He crawled to land, but rather than falling onto the pebbles, the red soil and dirt, Aloy’s hands helped him move further away from the water.

Yet, his eyebrows furrowed and his jaw tensed, teeth clenched.

‘‘ _ What were you THINKING?! _ ’’

‘‘What?’’

Stumbling back onto his feet as he regained his strengths, Link pushed Aloy back. ‘‘ _ Alerting the Guardian?! Purposefully putting yourself in the path of danger to try and kill the bandits?! We almost got killed and took out a single one! We didn’t even kill nor damage the Skywatcher! _ ’’

‘‘I was fighting! It’s what I do! It’s what we both do! I knew what I was doing, and you didn’t trust me! And you try and scold me when you’re even more reckless than I am?!’’ 

Her fingertip pressed against his chest, her height difference forcing him to look up. It turned far too difficult, to meet her fury. His ears now lowered and his eyes drifting to the ground, Link stepped away from Aloy.

‘‘What, no smart reply in hyrulean now?’’

‘‘ _ I… I didn’t trust myself, not enough to fight by your side. I was afraid that you would-... _ ’’

His hands moved slow while signing, the hesitation of his voice matched in their shifting.

A knot made her throat bulge, or at least feel like it. She glanced at his back, then back at the snapmaw’s corpse. ‘‘You don’t have to say any more, I understand,’’ she said, patting down his shoulder, ‘‘are you hurt?’’

‘‘ _ Scratched, but nothing that will hinder us. And… are you? _ ’’

‘‘Sore but nothing else; think I hit my shoulder on a rock when we fell in the river. Not your smartest idea to glide, but- ngh!’’

Her hand moved back, pulling the seams of her clothes, her canine digging into her bottom lip. Link reached into his bag, fiddling around until his fingers wrapped around a glass bottle, the red, gooey liquid swirling inside.

‘‘ _ You’re not just sore, c’mon, let me take a look. _ ’’

Glancing around, Aloy resigned to a sigh, and sitting down. Her top lifted above her head and carefully placed on her lap, she slithered her left arm out of her shirt. Link’s hand cooled her swollen skin, barely soothing the pain coursing through her muscles and bones.

‘‘ _ I think something is out of place, I’m going to put it back, and it’s gonna hurt. _ ’’ He mumbled and signed for her to bite down on her clothes. 

Her eyes widened, then closed tight.

Link took hold of her wrist, and her shoulder. He braced and counted to three, then pulled her arm towards his chest in one swift, forced leverage motion.

Through the clothes and her jaw biting down on it, her muffled scream resonated through the lake, and rang on his ears. Her tears welling up at the edges of her eyes, with few drops running down to stain her freckled cheeks. 

‘‘Bastard! Agh, insufferable piece of shit! Fucking hell that hurts!’’ 

Curses and swearing faded into heavy panting, a tingling through her veins. ‘‘A-Alright, what now?’’ she asked, dropping her shirt from her mouth.

‘‘ _ Hold your arm with the other. I’m gonna slather some of this- _ ’’ he held the bottle with the red elixir in front of her eyes, shaking it from side to side before taking it back, ‘‘ _ -and in a couple of minutes you should feel no pain, or anything. _ ’’

She nodded, and Link undid the cork. 

The thick, red oil trickled down her shoulder and her back, with few drops sliding towards her chest as Link’s hand ran over in gentle circles.

‘‘Will this really work?’’

‘‘ _ It will, I promise. Hyrule’s ingredients are quite magical. _ ’’ He spoke with humor in his voice, hoping it’d soothe her as much as the elixir would. ‘‘ _ We’re going back to kill the bandits, though, right? _ ’’

‘‘Oh yeah, definitely.’’

It worked its magic in their silence, and long before they could notice, the sun set behind them and the only flame they could see was that of the bandits’ campfire.

His bow and her sling aimed high. As Aloy’s freeze and shock bombs rained down onto the group, Link’s arrow pierced through the skywatcher’s eye, its aim shooting straight towards the hylian boy. 

He sprinted, and ran past the bandits, slashing through their weapons with the sword for a shield, rendered unable to go after him as their feet laid frozen on the desert’s cold soil, and their bodies slowed by the multiple waves of electricity coursing through.

The faint, distant rings of the Guardian as it flew closer, rapidly approaching with its beam charging up echoed. 

His laser fired down on Link, but using the sword to deflect instead, it bounced back and hit through the group, the direct hit killing two of the four, and the others blown away by the blast, only to be caught by Aloy’s arrows, piercing through their skulls and neck.

However, the Guardian’s second wind was already in charge, its aim locked once more on him.

‘‘Link!’’

‘‘ _ Aloy it’s too hard to kill one of these with their own lasers! I need you to take out its propellers! _ ’’

‘‘Say no more.’’ 

Sharpshot bow in hand, her first arrow tore through the first. The guardian swung around and back and forth; another strike ripped off the second, and its body became too heavy to keep in the air, twirling around them and closer to the ground with each second.

With a third, and the twang of her bow’s cord, the Guardian hit the ground, scraped all over on its side, and its eye searched frantically for its missing target.

The celestial glow of the Master Sword shone brighter, even as the skywatcher readied to burn a hole through Link, who stood right across from it.

A single stab, driven as deep as possible through the toughened sheikah stone and the circuits.

Its blast did not blow them back, though it left them coughing the cloud of dust that rose with it.

‘‘Is… is there any giant core?’’

Poking around with the end of his weapon, a sigh escaped from him. 

‘‘I’ll hazard a guess and say that’s a no.’’

‘‘ _ Not at all, but at least some of these could come in handy in the future. _ ’’ Link looked at the darkened sky, the corner of his mouth twitched into a smirk.

‘‘What’s with that look, huh?’’ Aloy ruffled his blond locks, with a soft chuckle to match his smile.

‘‘ _ That third was a pretty good shot, you’re almost as good as me. _ ’’

‘‘Is that a challenge now?’’ 

‘‘ _ Maybe. _ ’’

‘‘Hah, you’ll have to take down the next Guardian with only your arrows then.’’

‘‘ _ Hm, alright, but right how about we just rest… _ ’’

Laying back, in the place between where the Guardian’s remains rest and where the corpses of their enemies laid, slumber claimed them in a matter of minutes, hurled near each other, exhausted and weary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **None of the characters here nor the franchises belong to me. This is a work of fiction purely for fun.**

**Author's Note:**

> **None of the characters here nor the franchises belong to me. This is a work of fiction purely for fun.**


End file.
